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THE PROFESSOR 



Vy A. DU BOIS FREEMAN 









































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FOREWORD 


ROM birth in a manger, among the cattle, 
and sheep, by a lowly, pure-minded mother, 
came the greatest human being of all time, 
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 

From a lowly, unbeautiful worm comes forth 
the most entrancingly beautiful of all God’s little 
creatures, the butterfly, who, for the purpose of this 
little allegory, we have personified in AURELIA. 

To the author it has seemed peculiarly fitting to 
use the one to illustrate the teachings of the other, 
who himself used allegory and parable so charm¬ 
ingly and well; whose “apostles and prophets, too, 
used much, by metaphor, to set forth the true.” 

The imagery used in embellishment, and the 
author’s license taken, have seemed permissible. 

In presenting interesting facts of entomology, 
technical names and terms have been avoided. 

In “The Professor’s Lecture” certain scientific 
opinions ar»e challenged, and a new interpretation of 
“Instinct” is given. 

To all lovers of nature and nature’s little people, 
this little book is affectionately dedicated, with the 
hope that it may prove, to many, a lamp lighting a 
hitherto uncertain way, and a pleasure to many 
readers. 

“And now I commit all unto that hand that is 
able to pull down the strong and make the weak ones 
stand.” 



The Author. 




Copyright, 1923, b y 
A. DU BOIS FREEMAN 
Monterey Park, Calif. 


AURELIA 

AND 

THE PROFESSOR 

HAT a strange and wonderful thing this is 
the Professor has asked me to do! 

He insists I shall give to the boys and girls, 
and grown people, too, the story of my life, with its 
many strange adventures, love, romance and tragedy. 

He says I am very beautiful, and my story so 
wonderful it should be very interesting to little folks 
and big ones, too. 

Of course, I cannot write anything; but the dear 
good Professor has been so kind I want to please 
him, and I have found a good fairy who knows, 
and will write it all down for me. 

First, I am sure you want to know who is the 
Professor? 

Well, he is a wonderful man who I believe knows 
everything, but, like most truly wonderful and wise 
men, is real modest and will not consent for me to 
give you his name. He must be real rich, too, and 
oh! I wish I could make you understand how kind 
he is to everybody; and especially to all us little 
people of the nature world. 

He owns this great conservatory, where I have 
passed all my life since I became a butterfly with 
these wings I think so beautiful; and there are, I 
think, thousands of others of the little people who 





6 


Aurelia and the Professor 


spend all their lives in this beautiful place, protected 
and cared for by the Professor and his assistants; 
and there are small animals, and birds and fishes and 
even reptiles. These are all in cages all the time, 
but we of the Lepidoptera species are often allowed 
to wander at will all over the place, which we do 
with our wings. All moths and butterflies belong 
to the Lepidoptera order, or family. 

But this is beginning at the wrong end of my 
story, and Professor says I must begin at the very 
beginning. 

Well, the first memory I have is of being famish- 
ingly hungry; and what do you suppose was the very 
first thing I did? 

I had a great many, I do not know how many, 
brothers and sisters, and the first thing we all did 
was to devour the shells of the eggs from which we 
had just hatched. 

That seems so strange and I do not know why 
we did that. 

You could hardly believe now, that I w T as then 
only a wee little wrinkly, wiggly, green worm, 
almost too small to be seen. We all looked alike 
and were the same age, all being hatched about the 
same time. 

Another strange thing is that we were orphans 
from the very first and never saw our parents; and, 
having no one to teach us had to look out for our¬ 
selves the best we could, all our lives and we had 
everything to learn, too. 

Those egg shells tasted very good but we were 
still very hungry, and soon found some green leaves 
and filled our stomachs as full as they would hold. 


Aurelia and the Professor 


7 


Then, as it was growing light, we were afraid and 
each looked for some safe nook where we could 
hide, and there we slept all day long. 

By the time darkness came again we were again 
very hungry and found more green leaves and filled 
up our little empty stomachs, then we crawled about 
exploring our neighborhood and making the acquain¬ 
tance of our neighbors. 

Daylight came again, and again we secreted our¬ 
selves as best we could, for we were fearful, and 
our fears grew with our age and experiences and we 
grew very fast all over. 

There were many birds and animals so much 
larger than we helpless little mites with no parents 
to advise or protect us, and we could not always 
keep out of their way. 

How very thankful the young should be who 
have wise parents to tell them of the many dangers 
and enemies to be watched out for, and how to avoid 
them! 

I remember one day several of us were all snug¬ 
gled down sound asleep under some loose bark, 
when all at once our shelter was flicked away from 
over us, and there stood a great bird and began 
picking us up one after the other with its horrible 
bill. 

I crawled under cover as quickly as I could and 
escaped, but I think all the others with me there were 
carried away by that enemy to feed her own little 
ones. I am sure of it, because that very next night, 
while crawling about in the tree, I almost crawled 
right into a nest where that same bird was sitting 
and several little birds were poking their heads out 


8 


Aurelia and the Professor 


from under her wings. My, how frightened I was! 
But it was dark and though she could not see me I 
could see her, and I got away from there as fast as 
ever I could. 

Then there were animals with big feet who 
would step right on us and crush us if we did not 
watch out all the time. 

I have seen several of my brothers and sisters 
killed that way, and we came to be fearful of every¬ 
thing. Most of our lives were spent in leafy trees, 
but sometimes by accident or otherwise, we were on 
the ground, where some people as well as animals 
would step on us and kill' us. 

In form they were much like the Professor, but 
were cruel, while he is so kind. I wonder why 
people are so different? 

I often wished I could run, or fight, or had 
wings with which to fly away from danger. 

I was more fortunate than many of my brothers 
and sisters or I would not be here to tell my story. 

In time I met many older ones of my kind, and 
got much information from them. 

Some of the things they told me I did not then 
believe, but have since learned they are true. 

One of those things caused me a great deal of 
wonderment and speculation, because it seemed so 
very strange and impossible. 

I saw, also, many creatures somewhat like me 
in form, but they had beautifully colored wings 
(with which they soared gracefully through the 
air), and a long tongue to reach the sweet dews in 
the flower-cups. 

They could so easily and quickly fly away from 


Aurelia and the Professor 


9 


danger that I often found myself longing to be like 
them and live such a beautiful life. 

As I grew older I was bothered with spells of 
strange unrest, and at such times would travel about 
more than usual, without any special object that I 
was aware of, yet as though looking for, or expecting 
something, I did not know what. 

As time went on these spells became more fre¬ 
quent, and I felt a strange anxiety about the future.* 

One day my very dear friend, Papilio, older, and 
much wiser than I, asked me, when we met, what 
it was that troubled me. 

I was glad of that for I had been for some time 
wanting to tell him of these strange forebodings and 
ask his opinion about them; so I readily told him all 
I could and at once saw that he understood and 
would help me to understand about them. 

He seemed surprised that no one had yet told 
me of the great trial of my faith, and the great 
change that must soon come to me as to all our 
people. 

He then told me that my oft expressed wish that 
I might have beautiful wings with gorgeous colors 
was to be realized; that I should become one of the 
most beautiful of winged creatures and live a very 
different life from the present one; and that then I 
should be his sweetheart. 

I confessed that I had heard something about 
being born again, but had not believed a word of it, 
it seemed so silly; but before I could ask any more 
questions, and learn how such a great change should 


*As the worm reaches maturity it becomes restless from the 
urge of the instinct which finally impels it to weave the cocoon. 



10 


Aurelia and the Professor 


be brought about, a horrible beetle came threaten¬ 
ingly near and we were compelled to seek safety in 
different directions, my chivalrous friend purposely 
attracting the beetle’s attention and leading it in 
another direction. 

I was very uneasy lest that great bug catch him, 
but he outwitted it some way. 

Next day I called on a dear cousin, older than I, 
told her what I had heard, and asked her if it could 
be true and, if so, how such a thing could be. I was 
in a feverish excitement about it. 

She said it was indeed true and that she was 
preparing for that herself and was very busy, but 
if I would call another time she would tell me more 
about it. 

What days of nervous unrest those were for me ! 
Could it really be that I should be changed from 
that unlovely form, a green crawling worm, to one 
of those gorgeously beautiful winged creatures with 
the power to fly about in the air, up over the tree 
tops, or down among the flowers and sip their sweet¬ 
ness, in a life like a very poem of color, and motion, 
and experiences? 

They said I must be born again. What an idea! 
How could it be ? 

Sometimes I would convince myself that it was 
too impossible and unreasonable to worry about. 
Then I would reflect that “those much older, and 
wiser than I, insist that it is true and are making 
preparations for that mysterious change them¬ 
selves.” 

I could not eat, sleep, or rest for thinking 
about it. 


Aurelia and the Professor 


11 


“What did they mean by ‘preparation for it’? 
If these sayings are true then it is important that 
I, too, should be making preparations for such a 
great event.” 

While aimlessly wandering about in this condi¬ 
tion of suspense one time, I discovered a very 
strange thing which attracted my deep interest and 
I spent some time examining it outside and inside; 
for it was hollow and looked like the sleeping bag 
the Professor takes with him sometimes when going 
on exploring expeditions, though I never had seen 
one then. 

It was made of silken threads woven round and 
round the hollow center; was very smooth inside, 
and just about my size. 

When I backed down into it it just fitted me. 

It was fastened to the under side of a limb of a 
tree in a well protected place, but did not seem to 
have been used for some time. 

While I was resting in that strange little nest 
who should come along but my dear friend Papilio. 
Just the friend I most wanted to see. 

He greeted me with a cheery smile, and when he 
saw my perplexity, and I had asked him what that 
was, and whose it was, he laughed until I felt hurt, 
pouted and turned my back on him. 

He quickly apologized and made me understand 
he did not mean to hurt my feelings. Then he ex¬ 
plained the mystery of that little nest, saying it was 
like what we should each have to be making for 
ourselves very soon in preparation for the great 
change that should make us butterflies in due time. 


12 


Aurelia and the Professor 


Then I was all excitement again, and wanted to 
know all about it. 

After a few moments’ examination he said, “I 
think this is yours by inheritance.” 

With wide-open eyes and deepest wonder I asked 
what he meant. 

This is what he replied. 

“Judging by the character of the workmanship, 
and the neat fit it is for you, I am strongly of the 
opinion it was made by your own mother. 

“In preparing for the great change that must 
come to all of us who reach maturity (if we do not 
reject it), she wove this beautiful silken nest or 
shroud, in which she then sealed herself up, away 
from the world and its many dangers and went to 
her long sleep. 

“Months she passed in this safe warm little place 
unmindful of cold, rain and winter storms.” 

“But how could she live here so long without any¬ 
thing to eat?” I asked. 

“When we go into that long sleep we do not 
need to eat,” he said. 

“We are almost the same as dead. In fact, the 
worm nature and part of the body does die and we 
are born again into an entirely new state of exis¬ 
tence, emerging from these cocoons as they are 
called, with beautiful wings and different natures 
entirely. 

“We will no longer care for the foods we were 
compelled to have before, nor have to crawl about 
on our stomachs as we do now, but will lift up our 
wings and fly away in the balmy air and sip the sweet 
nectar from the beautiful flowers, new creatures. 


Aurelia and the Professor 


13 


“The sheen of these silken threads, the' exquisite 
pattern and finish of this unusually beautiful cocoon, 
are evidence of the fine discriminating taste of its 
maker, and that is why I think it must have been the 
work of your own mother.” 

By the time he had finished I was crying as 
though my heart would break. 

His delicate, yet evidently sincere compliment to 
both myself and my mother, whom I never had seen, 
but so often wondered about, and the thought that I 
was even then nestling down in that entrancing evi¬ 
dence of her fine taste and skill (her last home in 
the worm-life), and the feeling of nearness to her 
it brought to me were overwhelming. 

I was so thankful that his delicate regard for my 
feelings prompted my friend to quietly slip away and 
leave me to cry it out alone, there in that dear little 
nest as though I were really resting in her loving 
embrace. 

Those who believe that we poor worms have no 
feelings and sentiments have something more to 
learn about bugs and worms. 

Many people imagine that we of the insect world 
have no intelligence, or the power to think and 
reason, and will not give my story the degree of 
credit it is entitled to, so I will here relate some 
things that only butterfly students know about our 
aurelian people. 

If you look in a good encyclopedia you can learn 
why the Professor named me AURELIA. 

I have heard him tell people that I am not exactly 
like any other known species of the Lepidoptera, and 
he could not classify me, but counts me a “missing 


14 


Aurelia and the Professor 


link,” whatever that is, and gave me this generic 
name as the queen of them all. I hear him tell 
these things to his classes. 

He says that my quiet gentle disposition and my 
love for liquid sweets, remind him of Polyphemus; 
but when he beholds my richly colored wings he 
thinks of Vanessa, the Painted Lady; yet again my 
intelligence reminds him of Viceroy, who makes a 
house to live in all winter. 

I have given you a few of the names of the 
many different branches of the Chrysalid family, 
but I like my own better than any of them; perhaps 
that is because the Professor gave it to me and has 
said in my hearing, that the golden sheen of my 
wings impressively suggests AURELIA (golden), 
and he could not think of any other name that so 
well expressed his idea of my queenly beauty. 

By putting all these things together I arrived at 
the conclusion that the Professor chose me for 
QUEEN of all the great race of Lepidoptera; so 
great that some of them inhabit every country on 
the earth. 

So it is not strange that in my youth I was al¬ 
most too proud to be civil; until experience taught 
me that haughty pride is not at all becoming, even 
to a queen. 

I am sure it will be interesting to know a few of 
the strange things done by some of the different 
branches of our Lepidoptera family. 

The young larvae of Vanessa shape a cosy nest 
from the leaf they are hatched on, leaving a door 
just large enough to go out and in. 

When inside of it their enemies cannot see them, 


Aurelia and the Professor 


15 


and they can sleep safely all day long. They never 
eat of that leaf, but keep it nice and clean and find 
others to eat. 

Polyphemus spins a cocoon of silk in which to 
sleep all winter safe and warm. 

Viceroy also sleeps through the winter, but not 
in a cocoon. He makes a house out of a green leaf 
by joining the edges together, then covers it inside 
and out with fine silk. 

How Viceroy can know the green leaf will die 
and fall to the ground before winter and put him in 
danger of destruction in many different ways, I can¬ 
not understand, but he does, and so he makes the 
leaf fast to the stem with strong threads of silk be¬ 
fore entering the nest for the last time and sealing 
up the door and going contentedly to the long winter 
sleep. 

That shows him very wise and capable of great 
forethought. 

Then there is the Tiger Swallow Tail butter¬ 
fly who makes a place to rest in by joining the edges 
of a leaf together, but leaves both ends open so he 
can go in at one end and out of the other. That 
way he cannot be so easily trapped in there, because, 
should an enemy appear at one door, Tiger will go 
out the other. 

M. Trouvelot, the naturalist, wrote that he one 
day saw a Tiger Swallow Tail resting in his nest 
when a hard shower of rain came on, and the water 
soon began running in at one open end and out the 
other making poor Tiger very wet and miserable. 
Did he crawl out in the cold rain or lie still and be in 
danger of drowning? No, sir, not he ! 


16 


Aurelia and the Professor 


He just got up and quickly spun a bridge of silk 
across his little room above the running water, then 
quietly lay down on this silken hammock, safe and 
snug, quite dry and contented. 

Some folks say that all we poor worms and in¬ 
sects do is done automatically, through the action 
and reaction of certain elements to certain conditions. 

Next time any one tells you that, just ask them 
why the same sort of manifestation by human beings 
is said to prove intelligence but not in our case? 

Another thing M. Trouvelot says about our 
Tiger that is very human and makes me ashamed of 
him, is that he sometimes drinks to excess of lilac 
honey and becomes tipsy. 

That is so disgraceful I would not mention it if 
it were not much more common in the human family 
than it is in mine. So, now! 

There is another of our relations who weaves a 
nice silken rug on a certain leaf on which to rest and 
sleep, and keeps both rug and leaf very clean, never 
biting into that leaf but seeking others for food. 
Talk about intelligence! 

Professor says it is perfectly certain that our race 
was making bridges, silk hammocks and rugs ages 
before any human being ever so much as thought 
about them. 

I have heard that the Spider family tries to claim 
priority on those inventions, but, anyhow, both of 
us were centuries ahead of our critics, who say we 
have no intelligence or reason and only do those 
things because we cannot help it, claiming that only 
human beings possess reason and intelligence. How 
conceited and mistaken such folks are! 


Aurelia and the Professor 17 

There is another of our relations I must tell you 
about, called by some “Tree Caterpillar,” whose 
mother selects a plant or tree that is infested with 
Woolly Aphis (a plant louse, and a great enemy of 
the alder and some other shrubs and trees), and lays 
her eggs among them. 

The eggs soon hatch and the young ones, who 
are very small, at once begin feeding on the aphids, 
but the aphids though real small are much larger 
than the wee caterpillars and would trample all over 
them and bruise them up, so they each spin a silken 
tube around them for protection. 

You know the aphids are covered with a 
woolly fuzz; this sticks to the silk of these tubes 
and makes the little worms look like aphids, and is 
quite a protection against certain birds and especially 
against the ants, who attack viciously anything they 
find destroying the aphids, because the aphids are 
the dairy of the ants. 

Some who read this story may not know that 
the ants milk the aphids and secure a sweetish milky 
food they are very fond of, and I guess the aphids 
are glad enough to exchange it for the protection of 
the ants, because the poor little aphids are entirely 
helpless to protect themselves against any enemy 
whatever. And the ants befriend them in other 
ways also. 

Some times the plant or tree where the aphids 
were born and are living dies and the sap on which 
they live fails and they would starve and die if it 
were not for their friends the ants, who are great 
travelers and search out new pastures for the aphids 
and carry them quite long distances and place them 


18 


Aurelia and the Professor 


in the best of it; then watch over and protect them 
to the utmost of their ability. Of course the ants 
are thinking of their own interests all the time, and 
know that if the aphids starve their milk supply will 
be destroyed, so they attack anything which inter¬ 
feres with their colonies of aphids. 

This shows great intelligence on the part of the 
ants who, as you know, can fight and bite like every¬ 
thing. 

But how about the wee little tree caterpillars, 
who are so small at first that the aphids would 
trample them to death if they did not protect them¬ 
selves with the silk tubes they make and carry about 
with them? These tubes soon become covered with 
the wool of the aphids which sticks to the silk and 
makes them look much like the aphids, or like little 
sticks covered by the wool lost by the aphids crawling 
over them, and this way they fool the ants and escape 
detection and destruction by them for a few days 
until they have grown large enough to take care of 
themselves better, for they grow very fast. 

Some people claim a monopoly of all the intelli¬ 
gence in the world for human beings, but here are 
three grades and kinds of intelligence shown by three 
of nature’s smallest insect tribes. 

The aphids serve the ants, for the protection and 
food furnished, which they are intelligent enough to 
give for what they get, and call it a fair exchange; 
but the little caterpillars are robbers, pure and 
simple, who devour the helpless aphids and rob the 
ants of what they claim as their own property, giving 
nothing at all in return for either; living by their wits 
which they use in deception as I have told already, 


Aurelia and the Professor 


19 


but they use still other strategy in out-generaling the 
ants. In case their presence among the aphids is 
discovered, they have a way of escape ready, by 
means of a silken rope or thread hanging down from 
a limb of the tree, and down which they slide quickly 
in times of danger, then when it is past they climb 
back again. 

The ants cannot follow them down because the 
silken thread is too small for the ants to travel on, 
and would break with their weight if they tried. 

Human people think it a sign of much intelligence 
when they invented rope ladders for fire escapes; 
but little tree caterpillar was using the same prin¬ 
ciple ages before any human being lived on the earth. 

Some of these things I have learned in my brief 
travels, some from the traditions of our race and 
some from hearing the Professor tell them to his 
classes. 

I do not like deception and robbery and never 
associated with that branch of the Lepidoptera. 

One day a fine lady told the Professor she did 
not believe that insects possessed intelligence or 
reason. She thought animals and birds might have 
a little, because they, some of them, build nests and 
houses for their young and care for them until they 
are old enough to take care of themselves; while the 
insect mother lays her eggs, then dies and never 
sees her babies at all, and has no need to use any 
intelligence in caring for them. 

The Professor then showed her nests made by 
the tumble-bugs, all covered up in balls of dried 
muck, with food inside for the little tumble-bugs to 
eat as soon as they hatch, and on which they grow, 


20 


Aurelia and the Professor 


all safe from danger, until they are large enough to 
take care of themselves, and dig their way out. 
And he showed her some nests of wasps who had 
provided worms for the little waspets to eat as soon 
as they are hatched, and he showed her many other 
proofs of the intelligence and mother love of the 
insect world in providing, far in advance, for the 
dear little ones she knew she never would see; and 
then he asked her if she could not see intelligence 
behind it all? She replied, “Instinct.” 

Then he said, “Why is it anything but instinct 
when human people do these same things? 

“Caterpillars make silken nests, and rugs, and 
hammocks, and bridges in emergencies; spiders 
weave marvelous webs, after selecting a good place 
where flies are sure to go, and catch their food; and, 
like the little caterpillars, make safety-ladders down 
which they may flee from danger in emergencies. 
Human beings copy the same ideas and make fishing 
nets and other traps to catch their food; build 
bridges, make hammocks, mattresses and rugs* yet 
not more beautiful than the insects and spiders make; 
and so on and so on, and we call it evidence of 
superior intelligence in man. Why, then, is it not 
just as truly proof of intelligence in the little insect 
people?” 

She said, “I never saw it in that light before, and 
I think you must be right, Professor, and I thank you 
for giving me a new interest in bugs and worms, and 
wasps and such.” 

But I have wandered far from the most interest¬ 
ing part of my own life story. 


Aurelia and the Professor 


21 


For days I felt continually drawn to that now 
sacred cocoon, which seemed like a present from my 
mother and I spent some time there each day. 
Meantime, I talked much with my friends and 
acquaintances about this mystery of our species, this 
second birth, and the after-life so very different and 
so much more beautiful. 

A few did not believe in it at all and scoffed at 
the idea; said they did not intend to miss a meal or 
waste any time weaving fancy shrouds to die in, 
not they. 

I, too, had been skeptical at first and could not 
bring myself to believe it. 

“How,” thought I, “can it be possible for one to 
be born again? 

“When we are born once we are born for good 
and all, and there is no more hornin’ about it.” But 
the earnestness and sincere conviction of my friends 
and the testimony of others who claimed to know 
for a certainty that it is true had about overcome 
my doubts, and now to be told by my dearest friend, 
in whom I had the utmost confidence, that I beheld 
positive proof of it in a work that was probably that 
of my own mother. O—oo, I never could tell you 
how I felt. 

I became fearful and nervous. It seemed such a 
terrible thing to just weave one’s own shroud, creep 
into it, seal up the door and be as good as dead there 
all alone, for such a long time. 

But if it is all true and the final outcome be such 
a happy heavenly existence in the butterfly kingdom, 
how I’d love to be a butterfly! Then, those who 


22 


Aurelia and the Professor 


should know, insist there is no suffering, not even 
loneliness, experienced in that cozy, safe little nest; 
just oblivion until the final period just before emerg¬ 
ing from the cocoon, when the opening of the old 
shell must be accomplished, and that is of short dura¬ 
tion, then the grand new life. 

Not many days after Papilio had left me in the 
cocoon he came again, saying he thought he should 
find me there for he felt sure I would be coming there 
often. 

When I asked him if I could not just as well 
crawl in there and save all the work of spinning so 
much silk and weaving my own cocoon, he said, 
“That might be very nice for those who abhor a 
little labor, but the laws of our being demand that 
each must work out his or her own destiny in this 
way, or else perish as just a dead worm with no 
beautiful future existence possible. 

“We cannot rise on the work or wings of others, 
nor do I think you would want to do that.” 

“But would I not change to a butterfly, anyhow, 
if I just crawled into some safe place and remained 
there through that period of transformation? I do 
not think I am so lazy as that might seem, but I crave 
information and would love to know all I possibly 
can about these things.” 

“No,” he said, “the chances are about a thousand 
to one that you would be devoured by some of the 
myriads of birds and beetles and lizards, and if not 
you would freeze to death, and then, of course, could 
not be born again, because dead things cannot be 
born alive. Besides all that, there is a law of our 
being which places the responsibility on each of us to 


Aurelia and the Professor 


23 


determine and then create our own future condition 
and environment.” 

“Whatsoever we sow we reap.” 

“If we sow only to the worm-life that is all we 
ever can have or know. If we sow and weave for 
the. more beautiful butterfly kingdom that is what 
we shall reap; and, though it is ours for the taking, 
we cannot choose the manner of the taking. That 
is already laid down for us and there is no other 
way.” 

As my splendid friend thus satisfied my great 
desire for information and admonition, I found my 
admiration of his personality and wisdom greatly 
increased. 

For a little while he carefully inspected the silken 
threads, purposely, I think, to give me time for 
reflection. 

At last he called my attention to the things he 
had been inspecting and asked me if I would not take 
pride and pleasure in a competition with my mother 
in creating such a work of art, and try to excel her 
a little. Thus he aroused my ambition and interest, 
and soon I felt a growing desire to get started on 
my own. 

When he had gone I continued to ponder on 
these mysteries. 

“How funny to think we can make our own birth¬ 
places and be born again.” 

When I remembered how we came into new suits 
every now and again, this other change began to 
seem more possible. 

About the time our old suits began to look rather 
dull and worn we’d become drowsy and drop off to 


24 


Aurelia and the Professor 


sleep in a strange sort of way, and when we awak¬ 
ened, behold, there was a brand new suit right under 
the old one ! We never had to ask for them or make 
them, they just came all ready made while we slept, 
and were all bright and clean. 

I never could understand it at all; but think that 
some mischievous fairy just put us to sleep and then 
played those very neat jokes on us by putting the 
new suits on us, but where do you suppose they got 
them? 

They were perfect fits, too, and how could they 
have gotten our measures? There is a worm some 
folks call a “Measuring Worm.” Perhaps the 
fairies got them to measure us while we were asleep. 

But there was another mystery about it I never 
could solve, and that was how they managed to get 
those suits on us under the old ones? 

Getting the old suits off was quite a strenuous 
operation, but it did not take long to accomplish that. 

I cannot well describe it, but my readers can see 
the job done if they will watch some of my species go 
through the performance of the chrysalid. 

“But,” I reasoned, “those were only changes of 
DRESS, and we remained worms as before, though 
a little larger and better looking each time, still we 
were just worms. 

“They say this greater change that is to come is a 
new birth, from which we emerge, no longer worms 
but butterflies, with beautiful wings of bright colors 
and many hues; disdaining our former foods and 
modes of travel, when we just crawled round on our 
stomachs and ate green leaves. 


Aurelia and the Professor 


25 


“Instead we shall lift up our shining wings and 
sail easily and gracefully wheresoever we desire and 
sip the fragrant sweets from the beautiful flower 
cups.” 

From this distressing but fascinating puzzle I 
was aroused one day by the sound of some one near, 
and, turning my head, there was my dear friend 
Papilio. 

We had not met for several days and he was 
just the one I most wanted to see. 

As he came up close to me, he said, “I know what 
you are puzzling your little head about,” and I said, 
“I should like to know how you know that?” He 
said, “I know by those crinkly, fascinating little 
dimples in your dear little forehead.” 

That was the first time he ever had called me 
“dear,” and my heart began beating so fast I almost 
felt faint; but he did not waste more time in such 
talk. Instead he began to converse very seriously 
about the future, saying, “The cold of winter is near, 
and we must without delay select the place to weave 
our cocoons and complete them as soon as possible 
for protection against the winter storms and other 
dangers of which I have become very fearful for 
your dear self. Besides, I have not been feeling the 
best of late, and am impressed that we must not 
delay this matter another day.” 

The strange seriousness of his tone and manner 
caused me to look at him closely and, something, I 
do not know what it was, made me shudder and 
shrink as from some impending evil. 

One thing I noticed was what looked like a 
wound on his back; but he would not talk of it. His 


26 


Aurelia and the Professor 


manner was one of ineffable tenderness, mingled with 
deep anxiety and concern, and my heart felt like lead. 

He would not allow me a chance to question him, 
but seemed in a feverish haste for us both to get to 
work at once, and said, “Now you make your cocoon 
right here close beside this one which I feel sure was 
your mothers, and I will make mine close up to 
yours on this side, and you will be snug as a bug in a 
rug and snugger. Then if I do not reach that beau¬ 
tiful butterfly world with you, you can at least 
remember that we spent the very last hours of this 
humbler life just as near together as possible. I 
fear I have delayed this protecting work too long; 
but we will hope for the best.” 

I tried to draw from him what it was he was 
hinting at that caused me to shudder so with appre¬ 
hension, but he put me off with evasive replies and 
urged that we get to work in earnest without the loss 
of another moment. 

To cheer me up he chatted merrily, and even got 
me joining with him in sweet little love-songs, which 
none others could hear, while we spun our silk and 
weaved away on those nice warm cocoons. 

We did not stop to eat, though I became real 
hungry. 

Papilio said we’d not need any more of the food 
we’d been used to so long, but “shall just drop off to 
sleep and never waken until the warm sunshine of 
spring shall come; then you will emerge and wing 
your airy way from flower to flower, and sip the 
sweetness from their perfumed depths.” 

“But,” I said, “I shall not be alone. You shall 
be with me, and wherever I go you shall go, and 


Aurelia and the Professor 


27 


whatever I have that is sweet and good you shall 
share.” 

He only replied, with a doubtful shake of his 
head, “Perhaps so, dear, we will hope that you are 
a good prophet.” 

By this time we had almost completed our work, 
and, rising partly out of his cocoon, he reached over 
and gave me one long sweet embrace, whispering his 
love and last good-bye; then withdrawing into his 
own he bade me close up my cocoon quickly while he 
did the same. 

Scarcely had we finished that work whema«£errific 
storm shook the tree, and the cold snow whirled 
about us and soon almost covered us up completely. 

How very thankful I was then that I had such a 
good and wise friend to advise and assist me, but I 
was very tired and drowsy and soon was in that deep 
sleep, from which the awakening was so glorious 
and proved indeed a new birth. But my dear 
Papilio was not with me, and could I have then 
known his awful fate, I think I’d have died at once 
from horror and grief. 

It must have been several months later, though 
it seemed but a day, when I awoke with a feeling of 
warm sunshine coming through the sides of my 
cocoon, and that I must be getting out of there. 

My cocoon seemed to have become too small for 
me and I felt my head pressing against the top until 
it gave way and almost before I knew what was hap¬ 
pening, I found myself resting on the top of my 
house, drinking deeply of the fresh air; and such a 
different creature, with these wonderful wings, which 
I scarcely knew what to do with at first, but instinc- 


28 


Aurelia and the Professor 


tively soon had them unfolded and spread out to 
dry, while I trembled all over with a strange nervous 
ecstasy. 

Soon I realized that I was very hungry, and when 
I looked around me I was startled more than I ever 
had been before in all my little life; for there stood 
over me a great huge being I thought certainly would 
crush or devour me, but who turned out to be none 
other than the dear Professor himself, for whom I 
am now writing this poor little story of my life. 

I saw there was nothing but kindness in his face 
and he at once offered me some sweet liquid, which I 
tasted and found finer than anything I ever had 
known, and, thanks to his kind heart, I never have 
had to go hungry since. 

Life here in this grand conservatory has been 
one long, mostly happy existence, protected from all 
harm, and all my wants satisfied . . . but one 

liberty. 

I was not ungrateful for all the Professor’s kind¬ 
ness, and there was no very good reason why I 
should so much want to be free from all restraint 
and rush away into all kinds of danger, from which 
I was so well protected, except that I did not know 
the dangers and was not content to trust him for 
everything. I know now that it was mainly foolish 
pride made me so discontented at times; and that 
same pride would have me stop here, but the Profes¬ 
sor insists I must tell the whole truth clear down to 
date, and that calls for some confessions. 

When I had gained full strength and learned 
how to use my beautiful wings I was very proud and 


Aurelia and the Professor 


29 


wanted to show off and have the whole world see 
and envy me. 

The Professor was partly to blame for that, 
because he often invited his friends in to see me and 
would say to them, “She is the most perfect and beau¬ 
tiful specimen I ever have seen, and not exactly like 
any other; so I have not been able to classify her.” 

Such praise would turn the head of most any 
giddy young thing like I was then. 

I am older now, and sad experiences have taught 
me there is a great difference between intelligent 
pride and foolish vanity. 

There was a neat, clean little room, all my very 
own, where the Professor usually shut me up at night 
times (and when he would be going away for a day 
or two), where no mice, or pussy cat, or other 
dangers could reach me. 

At all other times I was free to roam all over 
this big conservatory among the flowers and shrub¬ 
bery, and associate with others of my kind, of whom 
there were many, but my foolish pride made me look 
on them with some disdain. 

There were a number of young males who were 
wont to pay much attention to all the young things 
of my sex; but I never would have anything to do 
with them, because I was ever hoping to find my 
dear Papilio; and I spent much time trying to find 
some way to get out into the big world outside and 
search for him. So for days I wandered round and 
round the place, often bruising my head and my 
beautiful wings against the glass, through which I 
could see so clearly, but could not pass; I never could 
understand why. 


30 


Aurelia and the Professor 


I was not the only one who could not understand 
that glass, either. 

One day as I sat on the window-sill sunning my¬ 
self, a horrid bird on the outside saw me and darted 
down to catch me. When he struck the heavy glass 
he fell down on the ground like he was dead. 

I was so startled I could not move for a spell, 
and just sat there gazing down at that bird on the 
ground outside. 

Presently he fluttered, then trembled a bit, then 
sat up and finally limped away shaking his head, and 
I bet he was a sore-head for awhile. 

How thankful I was then for that glass, which I 
could not understand. 

I have learned to know that the things we do not 
understand, and which seem to hold us almost cruelly 
against our wills are the very things we need to pro¬ 
tect us from greater suffering and destruction. 

In the conservatory were many small birds, such 
as humming birds, who never tried to harm us; but 
in some large cages were other birds, larger, and ill 
looking ones, and we understood it was very unsafe 
to go into those cages; but there were bold rebel¬ 
lious ones of my species, both male and female who 
were ever defying fate and often some of them 
would venture into those forbidden places, “just to 
see what they were like,” and few of them ever came 
out again. We could see them seized and devoured 
by those awful birds that had just been talking so 
nicely to them, inviting them in, telling them there 
was no danger, calling them “Fraid-cats,” and daring 
them to come on in and have a good time. 


Aurelia and the Professor 


31 


Many young people think it very courageous to 
meet a dare, but I soon determined I never would be 
fooled that way, and that is why I can now tell this 
story; yet it was a long time before I could get over 
longing and hoping to get out in the big world out¬ 
side that mysterious glass, and be free to go where 
I pleased and do as I pleased. 

With my wisdom and good strong wings, I felt 
quite able to take care of myself, and keep out of 
danger; but there came a time when I was completely 
cured of that desire and self conceit. 

I had soon formed the acquaintance of another 
of the Professor’s pets he called “Cynthia.” 

At first I was quite jealous of her, he paid her 
so much attention, but she was really a beautiful and 
affectionate thing, and finally we became close friends 
and chums, were always together and confided all 
our experiences, ambitions and thoughts. 

We had a favorite nook in one of the big window 
seats where we often rested, and communed, and 
dreamed much time away after our honey hunting 
trips, and our daily promenades in the air, on our 
wings, back and forth in the long conservatory, look¬ 
ing down on all the beautiful things growing and 
existing there. 

Besides all the beautiful things to see, we so 
greatly enjoyed exercising our wings we were so 
proud of, until we became tired, then we would retire 
to our window retreat and rest, and take delightful 
naps and watch the outside world, like a great mov¬ 
ing picture before us, from which there seemed 
nothing between it and us, yet there was that 
mysterious glass. 


32 


Aurelia and the Professor 


Others of our kind outside came and communed 
with us there through the glass, about the wonderful 
places and things they saw and the grand times they 
had, and urged us to “come outside and be some¬ 
body,” and they taunted us about our “humble, 
homely, narrow life,” until we sometimes felt quite 
ashamed of it; but one day we got a terrible fright 
and a lesson I never forgot, that taught us to better 
appreciate our safe and really grand home. 

There were two young males who came often to 
chat with us there. 

Cynthia claimed one of them for her fellow, and 
the other claimed me for his girl. 

On this occasion they were there chatting with 
us when, like a flash out of the sky, there swooped 
down a great bird and grabbed them up and swal¬ 
lowed them one after the other right before our eyes, 
then for a moment he looked hard at us and that 
glass as if hating it for being in his way and protect¬ 
ing us; then he flew away. 

That was a sickening sight, and how very thank¬ 
ful we were again for the protection of that 
mysterious glass. 

For some time after that neither of us seemed to 
think much about wanting to get away from the pro¬ 
tection of our safe, good home, but in time Cynthia’s 
restlessness returned and finally she declared she 
would find a way to get out somehow. 

I tried to discourage her, and then she quit 
telling me of any of her plans. 

We had noticed that the gardener came and went 
through a door which he opened and closed, always 


Aurelia and the Professor 


33 


being very careful to see that none of us were near 
when he opened and closed the door. 

One day I missed Cynthia and though I searched 
everywhere, I could not find her. 

Afterwards I learned that she had conceived the 
plan to fly high above the gardener’s head as he 
approached the door, then drop suddenly down on 
the top of his cap just as he went out; and she had 
carried it out very neatly, to the great consternation 
of the poor man when he saw her flying away to 
the freedom she believed so glorious. 

For days I mourned her loss very sadly, for I 
missed her oh, so much! Then she came to me one 
day at our favorite window-seat and talked to me 
through the glass about the many wonders of the 
great out-of-doors, and the jolly times she was hav¬ 
ing; told me how she got out, and urged me to 
come, too. 

She had with her a stalwart, middle-aged, con¬ 
ceited looking companion she informed me was her 
best fellow; but his appearance and greedy eyes 
repelled me. 

Finally they flew away close together and for 
some time I saw no more of my dear friend and 
missed her so. 

Late one afternoon I was dozing and dreaming 
in the old window-seat when a faint tapping on the 
window pane awakened me, and when I opened my 
eyes there, on the other side of the glass, I beheld 
. . , . could it be? Yes, none other than my 

poor, dear Cynthia, but oh, so changed; no longer my 
neat, happy, joyous friend of old, but so different I 


34 


Aurelia and the Professor 


could scarcely believe my eyes; her beautiful clothes 
faded and worn, her glorious wings broken and torn, 
she was shivering and dying there so near me and 
I was powerless to help her. 

In a weak broken voice she told me she would 
give anything in the world to be back again with 
me in that dear old safe and happy home. 

I had once brought the Professor to the aid of 
a poor little butterfly with a broken wing, by flying 
at him and then away in its direction, back and forth 
again and again until he followed me to see what it 
was that caused me to act in such an unusual manner; 
and when he found the little crippled one he cared 
for it very tenderly and I knew he would save my 
dear Cynthia if he only were near; but he was away 
from home, and the gardener would not be coming in 
again that day, so there was no possible way I could 
help her, except to just nestle down as close to her 
as the glass would allow and try to keep her warm 
until morning, and there, in a shamed, weak voice 
she poured into my aching heart the story of her 
mistakes, abuse, and all but destruction. 

When at last the morning light came she lay so 
still and pale I thought she was dead. 

Before I could find out for certain there came 
another of those horrid birds who snapped up poor 
Cynthia and flew up into a near by tree, where I 
could see a nest and several open hungry mouths, 
and there he picked her to pieces and gave each 
mouth a piece of her body. 

The dreadful sight made me sick, and I crawled 
away into a dark corner and there for a long time 
I mourned the fate of my dear lost friend. 


Aurelia and the Professor 


35 


Oh—if only she had hearkened to, and remained 
with me how happy we both would now be! 

But it is the same old, old story of discontent, 
temptation, and false friends to whom she yielded 
instead of trusting those who had been tried and 
found true. 

Will youth and inexperience ever learn to trust 
the friends that are tried, unselfish and true, instead 
of strangers, I wonder? 

It is not strange that I there learned to appre¬ 
ciate more than ever the safe and beautiful home in 
which I could be so happy if I would, and I deter¬ 
mined that I would, come what may. 

For a long time I could not put aside my grief, 
and drooped around disconsolate, longing more than 
ever for my dear lost friend, so good and wise and 
true, Papilio, of other days and the other life. 

The Professor noticed the change in me, and 
seemed very sorry for me. I could see that he 
missed poor Cynthia, too, and searched everywhere 
for her. 

One day he brought another of my species, a 
fine manly looking young fellow, and introduced him 
to me, saying that I seemed so lonesome he thought 
I needed good company to cheer me up. 

At first my heart was so sore, and I felt so 
timid, that I rather resented the Professor’s intended 
kindness, and fear I was quite rude to my company; 
but he was so very kind, and considerate of my feel¬ 
ings, and never intruded on my privacy, that I soon 
grew to like him very much. 

In fact we became great friends, in time, and in¬ 
separable companions; and . . . and . . . 


36 


Aurelia and the Professor 


well, yes; it is a family secret, but you would soon 
guess it any way, so I might as well confess that we 
are truly enough married and as happy as two butter¬ 
flies could well be, and that is very happy indeed in 
such a grand and beautiful home as this. 

There is one thing more I am sure you very 
much want to know—“what ever became of my dear 
friend of the other life, Papilio?” 

Long I grieved and wondered during the earlier 
portion of my life here, before I found out the 
answer to my heart’s question. 

Among the many glass cases in the Professor’s 
collection there is one containing a lot of wicked look¬ 
ing flies that always made me shiver with an unac¬ 
countable fear whenever I came near and saw them. 

I never knew what they were until one day I 
heard the Professor telling a class of his students 
they are “Ichneumons,” and then it was I also 
learned the fate of my dear lost friend. 

It was so terrible I feel I never can tell you about 
it, but if you will read that lecture of the Professor’s 
(I hope you will read every word of it), you will 
learn all about the fate of poor Papilio, and under¬ 
stand what it was he was hinting at, that caused me 
such unaccountable dread that last day when we 
made our cocoons there so close together. 

Now my story is done and I must say good-bye 
to all, with the earnest wish that each and every one 
may draw from this poor little story of my life 
some lessons of great value, and be sure to read the 
Professor’s lecture. Good-bye, good-bye. 

Affectionately yours, 

AURELIA. 


The Professor’s Lecture 

(To One of His Classes) 

As a preliminary to, and part of, the lesson for 
today you have all read Aurelia’s very interesting 
and instructive story, which we shall briefly review, 
then endeavor to draw from it some parallels of 
tremendous importance to human beings. 

First, we have here the triple cocoon (referred 
to by her), which I discovered and brought home 
just in time to witness the coming into the world of 
this beautiful creature, Aurelia, herself. 

Notice the delicate tracings of her wings, their 
gorgeous colors rivaling the beauties of the rainbow 
and now the airy grace with which she wings her way 
to yonder flowers and unfolding that long hollow 
tongue extracts the sweetness from those deep 
flower-cups. 

Next, observe this green leaf to which are at¬ 
tached these tiny shining specks of greenish hue. 

They are eggs like the one from which Aurelia 
began the first phase of her organic life as a very 
small, wrinkly, wriggly, green worm whose first con¬ 
scious experience was a consuming hunger, and her 
first act was the devouring of the shell of the egg 
from which she had just hatched; an action which 
science has not yet been able to satisfactorily explain. 

The next move of herself and brothers and 
sisters was to devour green leaves, as much as they 
could hold. 


38 


The Professor's Lecture 


The rapacity and capacity of these wee worms in 
that line is marvelous, but their worm life is short, 
and their growth and development is correspondingly 
rapid. 

I call your attention to the wisdom of the butter¬ 
fly mother in selecting the kind of tree or shrub best 
suited to the development of her children (whom 
she never sees), on which to deposit her eggs; and 
she never makes a mistake. 

This seems the more remarkable when we 
remember that during the whole of her life as a 
butterfly she never even tasted a leaf of any kind, 
nor could she possibly do so for the very good reason 
that she was not provided with teeth or any other 
apparatus, for cutting and masticating any kind of 
solid food. 

Her only dependence for nourishing herself is 
the long delicate tongue like you see Aurelia using, 
sipping the liquid sweets in the flowers. 

How does the butterfly mother know that her 
babes when hatched must have food so entirely dif¬ 
ferent from anything she ever tasted in all of her 
butterfly life? 

Are we to suppose that she remembers her own 
worm life, as Aurelia tells us? It would seem so. 

Science cannot inform us, nor how she is able 
to distinguish the right from the wrong kind of tree 
or shrub on which to place her eggs. 

Since we are concerned today with a much more 
wonderful phase of her life, we will not follow any 
detailed study of the evolution of the little, ugly 
worm through the chrysalis stages, at the end of 
which it each time finds itself wearing a new suit 


The Professor's Lecture 


39 


(as Aurelia has so well told), until the time ap¬ 
proaches for it to weave the cocoon, in the dark 
chamber of which occurs the most marvelous trans¬ 
formation of all the wondrous changes in the cycle 
of its brief life. 

Either from instinct or tradition passing down 
from generation to generation, the mature worm 
comes to understand that a new birth is its privilege, 
by which it will become a changed being totally un¬ 
like any part of its past, depending on food and 
locomotion almost ethereal, compared with the 
worm-life. 

It is not to be supposed that any of them com¬ 
prehend the why, and Aurelia intimates some of 
them refuse to believe anything of the kind, or to 
make the necessary preparation for it by weaving 
the cocoon which is the protection and abiding place 
where must occur this most wonderful transforma¬ 
tion, and which is the only possible door, so to speak, 
by which they may reach the butterfly world with its 
charming existence. 

It follows that those skeptical ones who refuse 
to believe and make the necessary preparation for 
the great change, perish as mere worms and never 
can by any possibility reach the exalted state of 
existence of the butterfly. 

The great Creator has provided the operative 
laws and forces for the accomplishment of this al¬ 
most unbelievable transition, but has left to each 
individual the acceptance or rejection of the plan by 
which that secret process must be wrought. 

There is no compulsion. Even with the little 
worm it is wholly a matter of choice and action. 


40 


The Professor's Lecture 


The first element in that choice is the overcoming 
of the negative attitude of unbelief, and changing 
it to one of unreserved belief in a seemingly impos¬ 
sible and wholly unexplained transformation. 

The next is to put that belief in action by doing 
the necessary thing which will provide the only means 
whereby the worm may reach and enjoy life in the 
butterfly world. 

A good many people imagine that these things 
in the evolution of the worm come about through 
some automatic process or controlling instinct, which 
leaves them no power of choice and no responsibility 
in the matter, but that is a great mistake as we 
shall see. 

In inorganic chemistry (actions and reactions be¬ 
tween atoms of non-living matter), we see what 
seems to be compelling control exerted by outside 
forces acting on the atoms, as for instance, magnet¬ 
ism, where so far as we can see, the atoms are with¬ 
out power to choose, or to resist the compelling force 
of the magnet. 

Chemical atoms also seem powerless to resist 
the affinitive actions and reactions. At any rate, this 
seems to be true when they are artificially brought 
together in contact; yet it would be rash indeed, to 
assume that if left free to the operation of nature’s 
forces in finding each other, they would not exhibit 
selective powers. 

In fact Crystallization proves that they do. 

Each of you can demonstrate the fact by a very 
simple experiment. 

Dissolve granulated sugar in some water in a 
wide-mouthed dish, lay some strings across, al- 


The Professor's Lecture 


41 


lowing sag enough to bring them down into the 
solution, and set the dish where there will be a draft 
of air across it. In a few days they will be covered 
with beautiful crystals of rock-candy; showing that 
the atoms of sugar not only moved toward the string, 
but arranged themselves so as to form crystals of 
definite shapes and angles. 

Certain schools of materialistic evolution dispute 
the existence of a creator or intelligent causation, 
yet base their whole theory of evolution on what 
they call the “Law of Natural Selection,” quite un¬ 
mindful of the self evident truth that selection means 
choice, and is impossible without intelligence and 
the power to choose and act. 

They thus place themselves in the ludicrously il¬ 
logical position of basing their whole theory on the 
very thing whose existence they deny, the manifesta¬ 
tion and operation of MIND, which manifests con¬ 
tinually in all life, clear down to the very lowest 
primary cells. 

Let us fix in our mind’s eye the following mental 
pictures. 

First, inorganic (non-living) atoms, apparently 
acted upon and responding to outside forces alone, 
as in magnetism and chemistry. 

Second, organic, living atoms, as single cells, 
with volition, motive and reproductive powers, as 
for instance, the Amoeba. 

Third, groups of cells working in harmonious 
cooperation as constituent parts of complex individ¬ 
uals of higher order, each group doing a certain 
work necessary to the existence of the larger com¬ 
plex individual, of which these groups are each but 


42 


The Professor's Lecture 


insignificant parts, yet each necessary to the existence 
of the others. 

Let us trace these along up, step by step, 
through the increasingly complex grouping of groups 
until we reach the climax in organic life, MAN; 
where we find one group making bone and building 
the frame for the body, with the assistance of an¬ 
other group which makes the ligaments joining the 
different bones together and covers them with a 
tough membrane. 

Another covers the frame with flesh, which, in 
turn is covered with protecting cuticle or skin, por¬ 
tions of which another group covers with hair, while 
many other groups make the heart, brain, lungs and 
all the many other internal organs and all in their 
proper places. 

Let us notice that (in the lowest forms of life), 
what we call instinct is the dominating force direct¬ 
ing the actions of the living cells. 

As to just what instinct is, scientists are not en¬ 
tirely agreed, but I think we shall presently see. 

As we study the actions of the many forms of 
life from the lower orders along up to the higher 
complex species, we see that instinct gradually gives 
way to intelligent volition and more independent 
action of the individual until in MAN we find prac¬ 
tical self control, a free agent. 

Not self created but self governed and with full 
responsibility for his acts. 

How wondrously beautiful are the works of the 
Creator when thus examined. 

It cannot with truth be said, however, that even 


The Professor's Lecture 


43 


the lowest forms of organic life do not manifest 
volition and a degree of self control. 

Take the microscopic amoeba, a very small drop 
of protoplasm which looks like a tiny drop of clear 
water with a transparent envelop or covering, resting 
on the bottom of a stagnant pool of water. An 
ordinary observer would suppose that when it wanted 
to travel it would just roll along by turning over 
and over, but not so. Having no eyes to see the 
way, it uses other means of examining the conditions 
ahead of it. 

With its mind it pushes against the envelope on 
the side toward the direction it wants to move, until 
it is pushed out like a long finger with which it feels 
the way. If everything seems satisfactory it then 
rolls forward to the end of the finger, and then is a 
round globe again, and repeats the operation; but, 
if at any time the finger discovers an unsatisfactory 
condition ahead, the finger is withdrawn and another 
is pushed out in some other direction and the route 
of travel is changed. 

It is incorrect to assume that instinct directs such 
actions. 

It is permissible to say that the honey bee is 
directed by instinct when it uses the same pattern for 
the cells in the honey comb century after century. 
Likewise other insects, and birds, and certain animals 
that never have changed the form of their nests since 
creation so far as we know. 

Such creatures being without inventive faculties, 
were each given patterns, best suited to them, by a 
loving God when created, and they never have made 


44 


The Professor's Lecture 


the mistake of questioning His wisdom, but go 
happily along in the same old way and escape the 
losses and misery so often suffered by the higher 
order through experimentation. 

But man, the highest type of animal, was given 
a vastly greater degree of intelligence, along with 
creative and inventive powers, and dominion over 
all others, and the same loving God gave him a free 
rein, with the earth and all it contains for a work¬ 
shop, and released him from the bondage of instinct 
in order that he may create his own environment and 
make the very most of his opportunities for the 
highest degree of attainment and happiness. 

What we call instinct, that which directs much of 
the activities of the lower orders of organic life, is 
but the continued expression of the MIND of God, 
the Creator; but any unbiased study of the actions 
of even the very lowest of these furnishes abundant 
evidence that they, also, exercise some independent 
volition, even down to the egg-cells and sperm-cells in 
reproduction; and such impartial study reveals God, 
the Creator, as the parent with the child, directing 
and protecting the weak (physically and mentally), 
by so-called “Instinct,” just in proportion to the 
need; and the gradual release from such control as 
we come along up through advancing degrees of 
intelligence and physical strength, until, in the most 
enlightened and developed branches of the human 
family, we find instinct submerged by reason. 

We find a parallel in the parent with the human 
infant. 

We carry and control the babe until he is old 
enough to begin using his feet under him; then we 


The Professor's Lecture 


45 


stand him up and by various inducements, encourage 
him to take a few steps. 

As his limbs grow stronger and he gains better 
control over them, we give him more and more 
liberty, until finally we accord him full freedom of 
action, with the hope that, through his many falls 
and hurts, he has come to understand that with self- 
government he must assume full responsibility for 
the results of his acts, be they good or ill. 

He is then a free agent, free to enjoy to his 
fullest capacity, and to suffer only by his mistakes, or 
the willful violation of the laws intended for his en¬ 
joyment. Free to ignore the leading of conscience 
(instinct), and follow his reason, right or wrong. 

The lower orders of God’s creation are the little 
ones, weak and helpless, over whom he retains more 
control and protective care (manifested as instinct), 
which we humans, with our larger reasoning capacity, 
disdain; though much of our boasted wisdom is but 
vain sophistry and leads us into many costly mis¬ 
takes, the greatest of which is to ignore or deny God, 
the planner and creator of all. 

Coming back now to Aurelia’s life story, we 
may find other lessons of transcendent value to us. 

The world’s greatest teacher of Ontology and 
Metaphysics, Jesus Christ, used parables (parallels 
observable in the material world, and familiar to 
every one), to illustrate and interpret spiritual 
truths. 

So we need not apologize for using the butterfly 
to assist us in reaching a fuller understanding of cer¬ 
tain texts given us by him, as, for instance, “Ye must 


46 


The Professor's Lecture 


be born again”; “Except a man be born again he 
cannot see the kingdom of God.” 

We have seen what it means to the caterpillar 
worm to be born again, and that there is something 
it must do while in the worm-life by way of 
preparation for that miraculous change. 

We also understand that the germ of the butter¬ 
fly existed, beyond all doubt, in the egg, but remained 
dormant all through the life of the worm until ma¬ 
turity, then it begins to develop and its desire for 
the higher life begins to express itself in the restless¬ 
ness described by Aurelia, which finally impels her to 
weave the cocoon in preparation for the coming new 
birth. 

We see here three phases of existence in the life- 
cycle of the butterfly. 

The apparently dormant stage of the egg, then 
the worm, finally born again into the fascinatingly 
beautiful insect, the butterfly. 

At first glance the seemingly dormant egg stage 
seems unimportant, but a little study reveals the fact 
that it is important, indeed, embracing as it does the 
initiatory process culminating in the birth of the 
worm, and here again did we look no farther ahead, 
we should not be able to find a satisfactory excuse 
for the existence of the destructive little pest the 
worm usually is; but when we behold the wondrously 
beautiful thing emerging from the cocoon, we are 
ready to concede that the preparatory stages of the 
egg, and the worm were worth while and we should 
feel like clapping our hands in childish glee but for 
the awe-inspiring spectacle of such a miracle unfold¬ 
ing before our eyes; this thing, of such transcendent 


The Professor's Lecture 


47 


beauty, emerging from the nest and shell of a mere 
ugly worm, and we stand silent, filled with inexpres¬ 
sible ecstasy of delight. 

But it is our privilege to find a parallel to all 
this in the marvelous evolution of a human soul. 

When the human infant is born into the world 
he seems, and to all immediate purpose and intent is, 
merely a helpless little animal, but, as he grows up 
he begins to display an unfolding mental nature with 
more or less of constructive ability; usually preceded, 
however, by a destructive period. 

During these early stages he shows little or no 
moral consciousness, but jn time conscience begins to 
prompt something of ethical behavior, and chide, 
and remonstrate against unkindness and injustice. 

This period produces a state of unrest somewhat 
similar to the period of restlessness described by 
Aurelia, which was caused by the unknown develop¬ 
ment within of the higher nature (or, more clearly), 
the butterfly germ, impelling her to seek a suitable 
place and weave her cocoon; which impulse she, of 
course, could not understand, but which led to the 
blissful butterfly world. 

Neither does the growing human being under¬ 
stand, without advice and analysis, the meaning of 
the developing spiritual germ trying to express itself 
through conscience, interfering more or less with our 
pursuit of pleasure, and placing us under a feeling of 
restraint which produces a restlessness that some¬ 
times causes boys and girls to run away from home, 
in the mistaken idea that home and home environ¬ 
ment is to blame, only to learn, usually at great cost, 
that the home restraints and protection, if under- 


48 


The Professor's Lecture 


standingly met, are just what they need to bring them 
the real happiness they seek. 

Our spiritual nature is the highest of the three: 
Animal (or physical), mental, and spiritual; and 
only by satisfying the cravings of that highest nature, 
or part of us, can we ever hope to find pleasures 
which will fully satisfy. 

Sad, indeed, is the knowledge that so many never 
find it. 

But that is sufficient excuse, were any needed, for 
this lecture, given in the hope that it will assist many 
in understanding this necessity for the full develop¬ 
ment of the spiritual nature to the point where the 
true meaning of the text, “Ye must be born again, ,f 
is realized and the satisfying joy of it experienced, 

Let us again review the parallel. 

As the worm develops and progresses from the 
egg on through the chrysalis stages, until it reaches 
maturity and must prepare the cocoon for a miracu¬ 
lous new birth, into such a vastly higher, more beau¬ 
tiful and totally different sphere of existence, so also 
we find the human beginning as merely animal, seem¬ 
ingly, but in time developing the intellectual stage 
where Mind dominates and Reason dictates. 

Thus far, like the worm, his development has 
been automatic, but now, like the worm, he must 
choose for himself whether he will continue to live 
and die a mere intellectual animal, or attain to that 
next and highest state of all, the state of fully de¬ 
veloped spiritual consciousness, which is as yet but 
stirring within him as Conscience; urging him to 
come on up higher into the spiritual realm where 
God dwells, among joys and pleasures unknown and 


The Professor's Lecture 


49 


unknowable to dwellers on the lower planes. A 
state where he not only believes in God, but knows 
himself in touch with Him, “born again” into spirit¬ 
ual understanding and life; with new aspirations and 
feelings he never knew before; a new man, “whose 
nobler faculties of the soul organized matter never 
could produce.” 

“Marvel not that I say unto you, Ye must be born 
again. That which is born of flesh is flesh. That 
which is born of spirit is spirit.” 

The first birth is flesh, the spiritual birth comes 
later. 

As the butterfly-state is so much more exalted 
and enchanting than that of the worm, so will our 
awakened newborn souls give us glorified joys the 
material and mental natures cannot reach or know. 

Again, as it is clear that the worm must before 
death prepare for the new life, it is equally certain 
that we humans must accomplish the new birth, the 
development of the spirit nature into conscious life 
and self-hood, before the death of the body, or there 
cannot be life for us beyond the grave. 

A butterfly cannot come forth from a dead 
worm, nor can a conscious living spirit evolve from a 
dead body, and neither dead nor living matter can 
enter the spirit world. 

Each phase and stage of life requires its own 
special kind of nourishment and development. 

We cannot reach an understanding of mathe¬ 
matics through the practice of athletics (however 
much we enjoy the exercise), nor a comprehension of 
spiritual things through the study of mathematics. 


50 


The Professor's Lecture 


That is why the materialistic school of thinkers 
fail to reach any creditable solution of the problem 
of the cause of life. 

They deny the existence of primary mind and 
spirit and attempt to reduce the manifestation of all 
phenomena to mere mathematical formula. It can¬ 
not be done. 

Only spiritual birth can give us spiritual life and 
spiritual understanding, and that does not come with 
the birth of the body any more than the butterfly 
comes with the birth of the caterpillar. 

Hence the texts given us by a loving Christ, 
“Except a man be born again he cannot see the king¬ 
dom of God.” “He that believeth on me hath 
eternal life. He that believeth not hath not eternal 
life.” 

“That which is born of flesh is flesh; that which 
is born of spirit is spirit.” 

“To be carnally minded is death; to be spiritually 
minded is Life eternal.” 

These are not threats, not even commands. Just 
gentle, fatherly reminders and statements of inexo¬ 
rable truths and laws established for our good and 
our highest enjoyment, and from which we suffer 
only when we ignore or violate them. 

From this we can see clearly why goodness and 
morality alone cannot possibly take us to heaven. 

They are intellectual qualities, and between in¬ 
tellectuality and spirituality there is “a great gulf 
fixed.” 

There is, probably, a state of mental existence 
beyond the grave, which is well illustrated by the 
parable of Lazarus and the rich man. 


The Professor's Lecture 


51 


In spite of his poverty Lazarus’ spiritual nature 
was developed into soul-birth and beyond the grave 
he passed to his heavenly inheritance with God, “in 
the bosom of Abraham.” 

The rich man probably reached a high state of 
intellectual development and beyond the grave was 
able to see what he missed by neglecting the cultiva¬ 
tion and development of his spiritual nature into 
conscious selfhood. 

What a hell of remorse it made for him; and how 
he implored that warning be sent to his brothers and 
friends, that they might escape a similar fate! 

This allegory is one of the finest and most in¬ 
structive in the Bible, because it so clearly illustrates 
the truth that there is a wide gulf between morality 
and intellectuality on the one hand, and spirituality 
on the other, and beyond the grave that gulf is im¬ 
passable. 

Though morality and intellectuality are very 
good indeed and bring their sure reward in this life, 
yet, even though we may do everything else the 
Christian is commanded to do; doing unto others as 
we’d be done by, love our neighbor as our self, and 
never in all our life wrong another, still, unless we 
are born again into the spiritual knowledge and con¬ 
sciousness of the truth of the divinity of Jesus Christ 
and accept him as the Son of God, we are shut out of 
heaven, not by any divine decree of an angry God, 
but by our own deliberate choice or indifference. 

That is one of the outstanding features of this 
stage of development of the butterfly, the chick and 
others that might be cited in the material world; the 
highest life is a matter of choice. 


52 


The Professor's Lecture 


The chick must will to peck its way out of the 
shell and do it or die there.. 

The worm must will and work to prepare its 
cocoon for the great transformation by which it is 
privileged to become a butterfly, or deliberately resist 
the impulse to do so and perish as a mere worm. 

“To be carnally minded is death, to be spiritually 
minded is life everlasting.” 

These facts and these last two texts furnish a 
clear explanation of another scripture which reads, 
“He that seeketh his life shall lose it, and he that 
loseth his life shall find it.” 

Taken alone this scripture is an enigma; but con¬ 
sidered in connection with the above facts and scrip¬ 
tures, we find the worm explaining it for us. 

If the worm seeks only the satisfaction of the 
worm appetites, and refuses or neglects too long any 
preparation for the new birth, its short worm-life 
soon ends and it loses all life; but, if it loses interest 
in the worm-life in its desire and preparation for 
the new life, it “finds” the new in losing the old. 

The same is true for us; and we see how literally 
true is the scripture, “To be carnally minded is death, 
to be spiritually minded is life eternal,” and to “lose” 
the first is to “find” the other. 

As the chick feels the urge of the instinct to 
break the shell, and the worm the urge of the instinct 
to weave the cocoon, so do we feel strange influences 
working through conscience; the urge of the soul- 
nature for recognition and the chance to be born 
again. 


The Professor's Lecture 


53 


It is struggling to be born, and is the connecting 
link between man and his creator, God, and is what 
Christ meant when he said, “Behold, I stand at the 
door of your heart and knock; if any man will open 
the door I will come in and sup with him and he 
with me.” 

“Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is 
born of God.” 

But many hearts are hard to open because of the 
hard shell of skepticism and unbelief, and Jesus told 
unbelievers they hardened their hearts against him. 

Poultrymen know there are some shells so hard 
the chicks cannot break them at hatching time and 
will die unless assisted. 

These furnish a parallel with the spirit-nature in 
us trying to open the heart by breaking the shell of 
doubt and unbelief and be born. 

If we turn a deaf ear to the gentle pleading of 
that awakening spirit-germ, it must perish with the 
hard heart, as the chick must perish in the hard shell 
it cannot break unaided. 

The first birth of the chick is when the egg is laid. 

In that egg the chick germ will lie dormant and 
formless, and finally perish unless right conditions 
for development are supplied. When that is done 
the germ begins to grow and take form and if the 
conditions remain favorable for twenty-one days, 
the chick is ready to be born again and begins trying 
to break the shell. 

If the shell is not too hard or the chick too weak 
it will succeed in breaking its way out. 


54 


The Professor's Lecture 


If the poultryman finds an egg-shell unpipped on 
the twenty-second day, he holds it to his ear and 
listens; if he hears a little peck, peck, of a small bill 
against the shell, or the cheep, cheep of a pleading 
little voice, he hastens to break the shell and help 
the little one out into a new life, yet how often we 
pay no heed to the “still small voice” of the spirit in 
our own hearts pleading for a chance to be born 
and bring to us the joys of spiritual development 
here, and of eternal life hereafter. 

The “still small voice” is the call of God invit¬ 
ing, gently urging, us to rise above the lower, animal 
nature; “Lose” it and “Find” the higher life that 
will never die. 

Nothing but spirit can pass the grave to the 
realm of spirit and of God; and until we have 
developed our spiritual being to the point of real 
birth into conscious selfhood, where we can feel in 
conscious touch with God, and where “His spirit 
witnesseth with our spirit that we are his children,” 
there is no spiritual personality in us to enter heaven. 

There is one more feature of Aurelia’s life story 
I wish you to notice. 

What became of her dearest friend of caterpillar 
days, Papilio? 

Here is his cocoon, attached to the other two, 
and it still contains the dry empty shell of his body, 
but where is he ? 

This brood of wicked looking Ichneumon flies in 
this glass case could answer the question if they could 
talk. 

His end was sad indeed. 


The Professor's Lecture 


55 


He knew the way and fully intended to reach the 
butterfly world and dwell there with his sweetheart, 
and he made the preparation by weaving his cocoon 
here close beside hers; but an enemy, the mother of 
these murderous flies, compassed his destruction. 

The mature Ichneumon female watches her 
chance at an unwary worm and sinks her stinger into 
its back, leaving there a bunch of eggs and that is 
what the mother of this brood did to Papilio. 

All caterpillars become more sluggish and sleepy 
after they reach maturity. 

Papilio delayed, too long, the making of his 
cocoon for his protection; she caught him napping 
and stung him. 

That was the wound Aurelia saw on his back, but 
he avoided any explanation of it to her. He feared 
the consequences, and his fears were well founded. 

Not long after he shut himself in his cocoon those 
eggs hatched and the larvae began at once feeding 
on his body, finally devouring all but this dry shell 
you see remaining, and about the time he should have 
hatched out a butterfly, out came these, his 
destroyers. 

Such was his sad fate, all because he delayed too 
long a well known duty. 

He knew the way and meant well. His intentions 
were all right; but it is well said that “the way to 
hell is paved with good intentions.” 

The lesson is one we should take seriously to 
heart; for it is true that Satan is ever on the watch 
for a chance to plant in our hearts seeds of doubt, 
unbelief and procrastination. 


56 


The Professor's Lecture 


We cannot afford to allow these a place in our 
characters, because the brood increases like the 
Ichneumons, and will eventually accomplish our de¬ 
struction. 

I must not omit another feature of the new 
spiritual birth that is analogous to the great trans¬ 
formation from caterpillar to butterfly. 

The true spiritual birth is to man like unto the 
wings to the worm. 

The wings and long hollow tongue of the but¬ 
terfly make it a very different being, whose nature, 
foods and actions are completely revolutionized and 
refined, and the old life no longer holds any attrac¬ 
tions for it. 

Just so it is with us. When a human being is 
truly “born again,” into full spiritual conscious self¬ 
hood, the life is dominated by a new personality, 
transformed in character and desires, and is indeed a 
new being in thought, feeling and action. 

“Old things are passed away and all things are 
become new.” 

The old appetites for non-essentials have disap¬ 
peared, and we no longer care to adorn the body for 
show or to expose it unclad, or half clad for appeal 
to the lusts of low animal natures. 

Comfort and health in the matter of food and 
raiment are the only considerations that seem worth 
while, and we find that the “finest adornment is a 
beautiful soul”; the adornment of the mind and heart 
with gems of loving, helpful thoughts and actions. 

The carnal life and body no longer seem of great 
importance except as incidental to the development, 
expression and supreme enjoyment of the new spirit- 


The Professor's Lecture 


57 


ual life we have found, and we are as truly changed 
in character, manner of thought, life, and choice of 
pleasures, as was the worm when it became a 
butterfly. 

The person who does not believe and know this 
has not yet attained complete spiritual birth and de¬ 
velopment; and many of us who do know it have not 
attained it. 

There is one marked difference in these changes. 

The butterfly cannot return to the old life and 
modes of living. 

The human being can put down the cravings of 
his higher being, return to the gratification of the 
carnal (animal) nature, and a sinful life, and defy 
and suffer the consequences; but he will some time 
find himself in the same situation as the rich man in 
the parable. 

Our Bible gives true warning that “the last state 
of that man is worse than the first.” 

But if he remains true to the higher nature of his 
being, “he is a new man; old things are passed 
away,” and he no longer cares for sinful pleasures, 
because he has found that which is so much higher 
and better, and has also come to realize that the 
statements in the Bible are true; not because they 
are in the Bible, but that they are in the Bible because 
they are true; and were true long before any human 
being knew how to write anything, and God taught 
men to write them down for our information and 
guidance and protection, and to show us the way to 
the highest enjoyment of the blessings He so bounti¬ 
fully prepared for us, just as we instruct our chil¬ 
dren for their protection and pleasure. 


ia*]S8 323 


58 


The Professor's Lecture 


Our time is up for today’s exercises and I must 
close. 

I may not have made these things as clear to 
your minds as I wish and hope, but am sure that a 
re-reading of Aurelia’s story will bring you more 
light and I urge you to read it again. 

The Professor. 



« 

































10M many similar expressions by per¬ 
sons who have read the manuscript of 
Aurelia, permit me fo quote: 

Miss Alice Beecroft: “A beautiful and won¬ 
derful story. A book that will live.” 

Rev. Mordaunt, Evangelist and Professional 
English Critic : “A little book to be proud of and 
one that will live; because it deals with eternal 
truths.” 

Mrs. Weaver: “A beautiful nature story that 
should appeal to old and young and do a great 
deal of good.” 

Rev. Tasker, Missionary to India : “A thought¬ 
ful little book that will be read and enjoyed by 
many thoughtful people.” 



A. DU BOIS FREEMAN 

Author of “Nannie Anna” and of the unpublished 
stories “Just One Sweet Kiss,” “Owasso and 
Owena,” “Recollections and Reflections” and 
others to follow. 









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